Right now I'm at 54 degrees celius. Is that bad, or good? Its weird because I have a Athlon 1.3 t-bird, i'm using a athlon xp heatsink (cidicom 4300rpm fan) plus I have a intake fan going and arctic silver 2 compound. Could the problem be that I need a chasis fan? Or is it something else??

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**§wi-Guy**

February 28th, 2002, 08:19 PM

DuronClocker

Well that temp isn't too bad if its under 100% load. If its idling, that is bad. What is the XP heatsink rated for because the AthlonXP runs MUCH cooler than the Tbird does. Say, an AthXP 1700+ (1.46ghz) runs about as hot as a 1.3ghz Tbird, so if its rated for XP1600+ or only 1500+, its not good enough. Also, make sure the AS2 was applied very thin. Case fans are always nice....well usually. Check your system temps, and post them. We can let you know what you need if you give us a little bit more info on your temps.

I'm running a 1.4 Ghz T-Bird and have temperatures around 45-54 C. (Now that I have a sun shield for the system at least!) Your temperatures do not strike me as too terrible, but you might want to consider getting a higher RPM fan for your HS. I'm using a 6000 on mine.

Just because it says it is rated for an Athon at such-and-such speed, does not mean much. As you said your system is running stable. That is good enough for them. they usually considder it\f fine unless the temps top 65'C on an open case in 20'C room temps. Look for a better heatsink.

I just got a Volcano 6Cu. It only cost me about $11 and is running my mom's 1Ghz Duron at a nice 35'C. The cooler was much heavier than I expected. It is 60x80mm with a thick base and a large copper slug in the middle. The fan is fairly quiet (nothing like a Delta38 screamer). I usually recommend this heatsink becasue it is cheap, easy to find, works good, and is not too noisy.

Your motherboard temps are a bit high (depending on room temp. With a room temp of 20-22'C I run about 25-26'C on the northbridge. An easy way to test your case cooling is to open the case and blow some fresh air in with a house fan. If the temps drop more than about 2-3'C you need better case cooling. Figure that for every 1'C you drop your case temps, you will also drop 1'C on you CPU temps (and everything else).

You can improve case cooling a few ways. Cut the grills on the case off. They are usually very restrictive and can generate extra noise. You can add a chrome fan guard if you want. They work good, look nice and usually cost under $2. You can tie up loose cable and route things away from the path of airflow. Make sure the CPU is not cluttered. Clean out the dust. This makes a big differance. I clean my system a\out about every month or two. replace the cheap fans with better fans. Watch the db rating for the fans. Generally the higher the airflow (CFM) the louder the fan (db). You want to stay around 30-35db. You can also add more fans. If your case does not have any extra spots for fans, you can cut blowholes in the top, side or even bottom of the case and add a fan and guard. The side is the easiest to do as you can e\remove the panel and cut without getting metal shavings in the case.